MR. McCLELLAN: All right, a couple updates to begin with. The
President has continued to receive updates on Hurricane Ivan. We are
continuing to receive damage assessments, but the federal government is
working closely with state and local authorities on response and
recovery efforts and there's close cooperation going on at all levels
of the government. The President has signed emergency declarations for
three of the states: Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. We expect to
be receiving a request from Florida sometime today, and I'm sure we'll
move quickly on that, as well. That's the update I have on Hurricane
Ivan.

The President had his usual daily intelligence briefing on board
the flight here. We've got -- we start with the remarks at a Minnesota
Victory 2004 rally in St. Cloud. Then we've got the "Focus on Health
with President Bush," in Blaine, Minnesota. There the President will
participate in a conversation with a community health care
representative, a senior who has a Medicare-approved discount drug
card, and a beneficiary of a health savings account.

And then this afternoon, following that, he makes remarks at a
Victory 2004 rally in Rochester, Minnesota, before we return back to
the White House. And I think that's what I've got.

Q Do you think he'll visit the Hurricane damage from Ivan?

MR. McCLELLAN: We're looking into that right now. Obviously, this
just occurred -- it just hit, Hurricane Ivan just reached landfall last
night. So we haven't made any final decisions, but I do expect there
will be some changes to the President's schedule, and we'll try to keep
you posted as that is finalized.

Q Scott, the President hasn't taken questions from the press in
a number of days now. It seems like an unusually long stretch for him,
he usually tries to do a pool spray every few days. Will he be talking
to us soon? And why the --

MR. McCLELLAN: It's something we always look at and consider. We
always look at opportunities for the President to take questions.
We're in the process of looking at some interviews, one that we're
finalizing up now. There are a lot of different ways the President
takes questions. He tends to take questions on a regular basis.
Obviously, we've been through a pretty hectic period, with the
Republican National Convention and the post-convention travel period,
where he's been talking directly to the American people about his
agenda.

But it's something we're always looking at and considering
opportunities for him to take questions.

Q It is the longest period since he became President that he
hasn't -- hasn't dealt with the pool and the national --

MR. McCLELLAN: He did a lot of interviews prior to the
convention. I know he talked to --

Q The question is -- I understand that --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- he did a news conference down at Crawford, as
well. No, I hear what you're saying, and that's why I said that we
always look at and consider opportunities for the President to take
questions.

Q The question simply is, why the change? Why isn't he talking
to us?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think I just pointed out that we've been
through a very hectic period with the Republican National Convention
and the post-convention travel period, where he's been talking directly
to the American people about his agenda. Obviously, we're coming into
the heat of the campaign and the President is reaching out to the
American people to talk to them about his agenda. There are different
formats he's doing that in and -- but, certainly, I hear what you're
saying, as well and that's something we're always taking a look at and
considering.

Q Scott, can you talk a little bit about last night's remarks
by Dan Rather? He seemed to almost personally challenge the President
to answer the questions. And he also urged the media to sort of set
aside concerns about whether the documents were forgeries and focus on
the President's -- on questions about the President's service. Did he
watch it? Did you watch it? What's your reaction?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, he didn't watch it. I did see it. I did see
it. Well, CBS has now acknowledged that the crux of their story may
have been based on forged documents. And they have determined that
they will follow other news organizations and look into the serious
questions that have been raised. There continue to be a number of
questions raised about these documents. And you've heard what I've
said repeatedly, that these are serious questions and they ought to be
looked into fully. And a number of media organizations have been doing
that. And now CBS has decided to do so, as well.

Q As for the -- Dan Rather's, you know, direct challenge, which
we saw in The New York Observer yesterday, the interview in The New
York Observer, he said: Answer the questions; with respect, answer the
questions.

Was that appropriate for Rather to say and --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think it's always best for journalists to
stick to reporting the facts and not trying to dispense campaign
advice. Did you have another question about last night or --

Q No. The only other thing was, you know, he spent a lot of
time interviewing this 86-year-old former secretary and seemed to --
while acknowledging the possibility that the documents were forged, he
seemed to cling to the essence of the accusations in the documents,
even if they were phony. What did you think of that?

MR. McCLELLAN: So now some are looking at feelings and not the
facts. You know, we don't have to rely on the feelings of a nice woman
who has firmly stated her opposition to the President. We can look to
the facts. And the facts are that the commanding officer at the time
has categorically stated that what had been asserted simply was not the
case.

Q Scott, on another issue, later today --

MR. McCLELLAN: Hold on, I'll come to you, Joe.

Q Later today in Rochester the President is going to be
introduced by Congressman Gil Gutknecht, who has been a big advocate of
re-importing drugs. And, yet, Congress doesn't seem to have any plans,
at least the Republican leadership doesn't seem to have plans to vote
on such legislation before the election. What's the President's stance
on whether they should?

MR. McCLELLAN: It's what he has said repeatedly. It's actually,
as part of the Medicare improvements that were passed, the legislation
called on the Department of Health and Human Services to create a task
force and look into whether or not this could be done in a safe
manner. It's a high priority for the President to make sure that those
drugs would be safe. Safety is our first and foremost concern.

And so the task force appointed by HHS is looking into this matter
and seeing if there is a way to do this safely. So that's where it
stands right now. But we want to make sure that the public health is
protected.

Q What about the bill that McCain and Dorgan are offering in
the Senate? Is that something that the President could endorse?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- the task force, from the administration
standpoint, the task force is looking into these issues. But the
President has an obligation to the American people to make sure that we
protect their health and not import drugs that we can't verify whether
or not they're safe. There have been a lot of examples of problems
with drugs that have come in that were not safe and they were not
effective.

Joe.

Q Scott, does the President believe that the National
Intelligence Committee assessment of the situation in Iraq that he
received in July was an accurate assessment?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, let's talk about what the role of the CIA
is. The role of the CIA is to look at different scenarios. That's
what intelligence reports are about. The role of the policy makers is
to determine how to address challenges so that we accomplish our
mission. So that's -- the National Intelligence Estimate looks at
different scenarios for Iraq's future when it comes to their political
future and economic future over the course of a year-and-a-half, I
believe, in this case.

Q Three fairly dim scenarios, ranging from civil war to
delaying -- the most optimistic said that we probably --

MR. McCLELLAN: It talks about the great challenges to Iraq's
peaceful and democratic future. And the President has talked about how
transition -- the transition to a democracy is hard work. But it is
for an important cause. The NIA really states the obvious in what the
President has said many times. But it makes clear that it's important
to stand with the Iraqi people as they face these challenges. The
stakes are very high in Iraq. There is progress being made on the
five-point plan that the President outlined for success. There are
certain areas where there are ongoing difficulties and security
threats. The Prime Minister of Iraq has made it clear that he is
determined to address those situations. They have addressed the
situations in Najaf and Kufa, and have made a lot of progress in
Samarra, as well.

But the pessimists and the nay-sayers have said that Iraq wouldn't
-- the Iraqi people wouldn't be able to agree to a transitional
administrative law that established the rule of law and protected
people's individual rights. The Iraqi people --

Q The TAL no longer exists.

MR. McCLELLAN: Hang on, Joe. I'm talking. The Iraqi people
proved them wrong. The Iraqi -- the pessimist nay sayers said that
they -- that we would not be able to transfer sovereignty by June
30th. The Iraqi people proved them wrong. And we did it early. The
pessimists and nay sayers said that Iraq wouldn't be able to establish
an interim representative council at their national conference. And
the Iraqi people proved them wrong. And they said -- the pessimists
and nay-sayers said that the Iraqi leaders wouldn't be legitimate.
Well, they are being proved wrong again. Prime Minister Allawi is
going to be standing before the United Nations next week as the
representative of the interim government in Iraq.

Q It sure sounds like the President doesn't think much of that
report, then.

MR. McCLELLAN: No -- no, actually, I told you, that's what it --
it states the obvious, and it talks about the challenges and the
different scenarios that we face. That's what intelligence reports are
supposed to do. That's the role of the CIA, to look at those issues.
The role of the decision-makers is to make sure that we work to address
those challenges so that we accomplish our mission because the mission
in Iraq is critical for the world and for the American people.

Q But isn't it disingenuous for the --

Q Scott --

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't think there are any plans about -- I don't
think there are any plans to do so.

Q And in the other part -- quick question. Does the President
believe that the TAL is the rule of -- rule of the land in --

MR. McCLELLAN: That's what the Iraqi people agreed to, that
established the rule of law. It is in place.

Q It is right now?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's what they agreed to. Yes, it is in place.

Q But for the President to accuse the press and others for
being pessimistic, which he does commonly in his speeches -- referring
to The New York Times article from '45, et cetera -- isn't that
disingenuous when there's reports from NIA which paint these sort of
scenarios?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's why I pointed out that Iraqi leaders and the
Iraqi people have proven the pessimists wrong every step of the way. I
just pointed to the examples, and I pointed to -- most of the country
in Iraq has made significant progress. There are areas where
difficulties remain and there are ongoing -- there are ongoing security
threats. There are dangers that remain. We made it very clear, and
the President has spoken about how it is hard to transition to
democracy, particularly in a region that has been very volatile and
very dangerous. But the Iraqi people are determined to build a free
and peaceful future. And they're -- they have shown their commitment
to realizing a brighter future. We're there to partner with them and
help them as they transition to democracy.

Our own democracy took some time to build. It's never easy
transitioning to democracy, but particularly in a dangerous region of
the world like Iraq.

Q So the President doesn't agree with the outlook?

MR. McCLELLAN: Those are different scenarios. They're different
-- they're different scenarios and that's why it's important -- and
that's why --

Q -- those scenarios are possible or likely?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the Iraqi people are proving that those --
those scenarios are wrong by the progress that they are making to build
a better future and the coalition is there helping them as they do so.